Number 207 - August 2000

Be Your Own Cyber Watchdog
by Ken Burke, USA WeekEnd, May 26-28, 2000
Online, it's up to you to safeguard your privacy.     At our house, nobody gets more mail than Jake catalogs, coupons, and offers to subscribe to magazines, donate to worthy causes and take advantage of some pretty incredible credit-card offers.     He ignores all of them. What do they expect? He's a dog.     It all started when I used Jake's name as an alias on the Internet, in an attempt to protect what's left of my privacy. Before I knew it, junk was pouring in, proving once again that these days just about every move you make online can be, and often is, carefully watched and recorded by people who don't know you from your dog--everyone from ad and insurance agencies to non-profit groups and even the dreaded telemarketer. And let's not forget the more, shall we say, unscrupulous characters.     We've all heard horror stories about people whose identities, in the form of credit card or Social Security numbers, were assumed by crooks. Identity theft, or true name fraud, is one of the fastest-growing crimes around.     Even if you never buy anything online, your privacy can be compromised by Web "cookies." A cookie is a small file that a Web site stores on your computer containing information it can use to "recognize" you if you return to that site.	Most cookies pose little risk to privacy on their own. The problem comes when others get hold of your cookies. In a highly publicized case earlier this year, DoubleClick Inc. planned to cross-reference consumer cookie data with information from a marketing database, such as name, address and credit card-purchase history. Seen as an unethical violation of consumers' privacy, outrage--and a lawsuit--ensued. DoubleClick backed off the plan, for now.     In the meantime, other threats to your cyberprivacy lurk. Example: Anyone who knows where to look can buy stolen credit card numbers in chat rooms, unleashing a feeding frenzy of activity that can max out your card in minutes.     Still, as new technologies bring out the creativity in crooks, your best bet may be plain old-fashioned vigilance. Keep track of each penny, balance your checkbook and follow up on discrepancies in your statements immediately. However much the world may change, it still pays to be your own watchdog. In this technology-driven world, your new best friend may be a different kind of animal Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), which let you complete electronic transactions anonymously. The Anonymizer (anonymizer.com) offers anonymous surfing. Anonymous payment mechanisms such as electronic cash (digicash.com) let you shop online without a credit card. And you can download free software such as the Internet Junkbuster (junkbusters.com) to filter out most cookies before they touch your computer.     Ken Burke is president-CEO of the Web site developer Multimedia Live.     For more about how to prevent--or recover from--identity theft, come to usaweekend.com.
Number 207 - August 2000